Printing machine



April 10, 1934. c. J W LKER 1,954,373

Filed Oct. 25. 1931 'neets-sn et l [me/afa Cmw on! J Walker,

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April 10, 1934.

c. J. WALKER 1,954,373

PRINTING MACHINE Filed 001:. 23. 1931 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 fave/Liar, Cmu) 0rd J Walker,

Patented Apr. 10, 1934 UNITED STATES BATENT OFFICE 14 Claims.

This invention relates to the art of hand printing machines and particularly to that type of a printing machine which is operated to impress characters directly upon paper by operating akeyboard. The particular form of the invention herein to be described is one adapted for use to fill out sales tickets which have commonly been written in long hand. By use of my invention, the name and address of the customer may be printed directly on the sales ticket in" is to provide a very simple and easily constructed a mechanism which may be produced and sold at a relatively low cost and which will be durable and accurate over long periods of usage.

An important object of the invention also resides in providing a structure which may be quickly and readily operated by inexperienced persons whereby a long preliminary period of training is not necessary.

A still further important object of the invention is the adaptability of my printing device to be attached to and used in combination'with the usual and well known sales ticket register now available.

These and'cther objects such as the new and unique combinations of the various elements specifically set out in the accompanying claims will become apparent in the following description of the invention as illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. l is a fragmentary front perspective view of a structure embodying my invention;

Fig. 2, a fragmentary top plan view; and

Fig. 3, a fragmentary right hand elevation.

Like characters of reference indicate like parts in the several views in the drawings.

Referring now to the drawings, 1 show my invention as applied to a. sales ticket register 10 here shown more or less diagrammatically since the details of its construction do not enter into my invention. The essential feature of the particular registerto be employed is that there be a fiat surface over which the sales ticket is spread while being written upon.

To the register 10 I attach the tracks or guides 11 and 12 to the outer upper edges thereof in parallel relation to receive the supporting rollers 13 therein of the frame 14 whereby the frame 14 is guided to permit longitudinal travel forward and backward over the upper side of the register. 69 The frame 14 consists essentially of a hollow box open from the under side and having its upper side enclosed with the forward portion thereof sloping forwardly and downwardly.

A fioor 15 is horizontally disposed within the frame 14 and between it and the upper side of the frame is rotatably carried a vertical shaft 16 on which is mounted in fixed relation a cylinder 17. The shaft 16 extends through the floor 15 to carry a beveled gear 18 therebelow which 7 is in constant mesh with the gear 19.

The gear 19 is fixed on the horizontally disposed shaft 20; the ends of which are rotatably carried by the vertical walls of the frame. 14. The right hand end of the shaft 20 extends through the frame wallto carry a plate 21 thereon with a thrust bearing 22 between the plate and the frame wall. A driving motor 23 is carried by the housing 24 to permit the motor 23 being adjustably spaced toward or away from the plate 21. On the motor shaft is fixed the plate 25 to be normally pressed toward the plate 21 in contact with the intervening friction disk 26. The arrangement of the drive from the motor 23 to the shaft 20 is such that the motor 23 normally drives the shaft 20 through the plates 21 and 25 but should the shaft 20 be held stationary, the motor 23 may continue to revolve upon slippage between the plates. The motor 23 is preferably held in spring tension by the springs 27, Fig. 2.

Toward the outer ends of the shaft 20 and within the frame 14, beveled gears 28 and 29 are fixed to the shaft to be held in constant mesh with the corresponding gears 30 and 31 which are mounted on the rear ends of the shafts 32 and 33, the shafts being held in alignment by means of the brackets 34 and 35 revolubly carried on the shaft 20 adjacent the gears 28 and 29 and through which the shafts 32 and 33 rotatably extend. These shafts 32 and 33 are carried in parallel alignment. 0 forwardly to have their outer ends revolubly supported in fixed relation with the transverse shaft 36. Brackets 37 and 33 respectively between the shafts 32 and 33 and 36 maintain the alignment whereby lifting and lowering of the shaft 36 will correspondingly lift and lower the forward ends of the shafts 32 and 33. The forward ends of the shafts 32 and 33 are provided with the beveled gears 39 and 40 which are in constant mesh with similar gears fixed to the shaft 36.

The outer ends of the shaft 36 are carried in slots 41 cut in the sides of the frame 14 so as to permit the raising and lowering of the shaft. Between the brackets 37 and 38, the shaft 36 is square in cross section and a wheel 42 is mounted on this squared portion so as to be revolved with the shaft but capable of being slidably moved along the shaft.

About the periphery of the wheel 42 are fixed suitable characters or combination of characters 43 as may be desired for use in printing. The wheel 42 is adjustably positioned along the shaft 36 by means of an arm 44, the forward end of which is bifurcated to straddle the wheel, and the rear end of which is curved around to fit about the horizontally disposed cylinder 45. This cylinder 45 is revolubly carried between the side walls of the frame 14 and has a groove 46 cut spirally around its periphery. A screw 47 is screwthreadedly passed through the arm 44 to have its lower end project to within the groove 46 whereby revolution of the cylinder 45 will carry the screw axially along the cylinder and thereby move the arm 44 so as to carry the wheel 42 along the shaft 36. In order to retain the rear portion of the arm 44 in contact with the cylinder 45 and to keep the screw 47 within the groove 46, a portion of the arm 44 which extends along a side of the wheel 42 is carried around the shaft 36 to have a spring 48 between a hub of the wheel 42 and a forward downturned portion of the arm 44 so as to urge the arm 44 forwardly.

A ribbon guide 49 is mounted across the under side of the frame 14 to be attached to the side walls thereof and to be immediately under the wheel 42. This guide 49 has a central open slot longitudinally of its length, the forward and rear edges of which are bounded by upturned lips sloping forwardly and rearwardly therefrom respectively so as to present an opening through the guide substantially V-shaped in cross section. The front and rear sides of each of the type bars 43 are sloped so that as the wheel 42 may be depressed, the particular bar on the under side of the wheel may enter the guide opening and have its forward and rear sides engaged with the upwardly projecting lips to form the guide whereby the wheel 42 is properly aligned to permit the type to make an impression through the guide opening and the ribbon 50 thereunder on the sales ticket 51. The ribbon 50 is carried under the guide 49 and at each end thereof is given a half turn to be carried about the spools 52 and 53 which are rotatably mounted on the inner sides of the side walls of the frame 14, Fig. 2. The detailed mechanism for automatically shifting the ribbon under the guide is not here shown since the construction commonly employed on the usual and well known typewriter may be used, the essential fea ture being that a ribbon be placed under the guide 49.

Vertical posts 54 and 55 are hingedly connected to the brackets 37 and 38 respectively and are carried upwardly through slots in the top of the frame 14 to have their upper ends tied together by the spacer bar 56. The posts 54 and 55 are reduced in size where they pass through the top of the frame 14 so as to form shoulders or stops 57 to strike against the under side of the frame top to limit the upward travel of the wheel 42. A spring 58 has its upper end engaged to the frame top and its lower end to the post 55 as a means for retaining the wheel 42 in the upper position and to yieldingly permit lowering of the wheel 42 by pressure on the bar 56.

Referring now to Fig. 3, a lever 59 is rockably secured on the inner side of the right wall on the frame 14 to have its forward bifurcated end straddle the shaft 36 whereby down pressure on the bar 56 to lower the wheel 42 will cause the lever 59 to rock about its pivot pin 60 to raise the rear end of the lever. A pawl 61 is rockably secured on the rear end of the lever 59 and is normally in the path of the ratchet teeth 62 on the end of the cylinder 45. When the lever 59 is pushed down by its forward end, the pawl 61 is raised to above the next higher tooth and then when the bar 56 is released and the spring 58 al lowed to lift the wheel 42, the rocking action of the lever 59 then carries the pawl 61 downwardly to revolve the cylinder 45 the distance of the tooth over which it had been carried. The actual amount of revolution of the wheel 45 may be varied of course by the position of the stop 57 on the posts 54 and 55 whereby a greater rocking of the lever 59 may be secured. To prevent reverse travel of the cylinder 45 I provide the dog 63 on the opposite side of the ratchet 62 to drop thereagainst normally by the action of gravity. In order to release both the pawl 61 and the dog 63 from engagement with the ratchet, I provide a post 64 vertically supported in the frame 14 to have its upper end extending beyond the top of the frame to have a button 65 thereon. Down pressure on the button 65 carries the post 64 downwardly to cause a. pin 66 thereon to rock the dog 63 away from the ratchet 62 and at the same time pull the pawl 61 downwardly away from the ratchet. The lower end of the post 64 is curved around and thence upwardly to be connected with the pawl. On the inside of the left hand wall of the frame 14, I rockably mount a spring control drum 67 about which is wound a tape 68. The outer end of this tape 68 is secured to the arm 44 so that there is a constant pull on the arm 44 through the tape 68 tending to return the arm 44 to the left hand side of the frame 14. The drum 67 is of the usual and well known type as now commonly employed to return the carriage in the usual and well known typewriter.

Preferably within the register 10 toward the forward end thereof I rotatably mount at each side a spring control drum 69 each having a tape 70 leading up therefrom and rearwardly to be attached to the frame 14 whereby the frame 14 is normally pulled forwardly toward the front end of the register 10. In order to control the forward travel of the frame 14, I form a plate 71 to have a plurality of transverse slots 72 thereacross. The slots in the plate 71 are spaced apart a distance equivalent to the spacing of the lines of printing to be placed on the sales ticket 51. Each of the transverse slots 72 opens at its right hand end into a longitudinal slot 74. The bars of the plate 71 between each of the slots 72 are i stepped off at their right hand ends from the forward to the rear of the plate. A post 75 is secured by its upper end to the arm 44 and extends downwardly to have its lower end below the top of the plate 71 adapted to enter any of the slots therein.

I provide a keyboard of any suitable number of characters, here shown, for example, as 48 in number. The exact number and nature of the characters may be varied of course to suit individual requirements. vice easily operated by inexperienced persons, I prefer to arrange the characters of the alphabet in alphabetical order instead of employing the customary arrangement as is more or less standard on the common typewriter keyboard.

In order to make the deaddition to one set of numbers and one alphabet, certain other keys can be employed to indicate complete words as names of the particular articles that may be handled in one department of a store for example. The keyboard comprises a number of buttons 80 arranged in transverse rows, each button being secured on the upper end of a post 81 which passes vertically down through the sloping portion of the top of the frame 14. The lower ends of the posts 81 are pivotally secured respectively to arms of hell crank'levers 82, the other arm-s of which cranks are pivotally connected to horizontally disposed keys 83. The bell cranks 82 are each rockably supported by'suitable brackets 84 mounted on the floor 15. Springs 85 normally rock the bell cranks 82 and carry the posts 81' to their upper positions.

The forward ends of the keys 83 are supported by the bell crank arms as above indicated while the rear ends of these keys slidingly pass through fitted holes in a bank board 86 which is spaced a slight distance forwardly from the cylinder 1'7 and arcuately follows the curvature of the cylinder a sufficient distance to permit all of the keys to be carried therethrough. The cylinder 17 is provided with a plurality of notches or holes 8'7 in stepped arrangement around its periphery.

Taking the number of buttons 80 as being 48, the keys 83 are angularly disposed about the cylinder 1'7 to be on radial lines thereof, the angular spacing in a horizontal plane between adjacent keys being 1/48 of 360 degrees or 7 degrees apart There being '48 separate keys, the wheel 42 is therefore provided with 48 separate type bars 43 equally spaced around its periphery. One of these type bars is preferably a blank to correspond to a blank or spacing key button 88, Fig. 2. In order to confine the keys 83 to within a limited space, the keys are not only arranged radially about the forward side of the cylinder 1'7, but they are spaced one directly above the other in radial vertical planes. There are six keys in each horizontal plane and eight keys in each vertical plane so as to give the total number of 48 keys in all. The cylinder 1'7 is provided with eight of the matches 87 each spaced degrees from the next adjacent notch and stepped down to have one notch located in each of the vertical planes as determined by the vertical spacing of the keys.

In operating the device, the sales ticket 51 is adjusted in the register 10 in a position to be written upon and the motor 23 is set in operation. The motor drives the shaft 20 which causes the cylinder 1'7 to spin and also causes the wheel 42 to revolve. That is, the normal condition is to have the cylinder 1'7 and the wheel 42 revolve simultaneously. Assuming that the wheel 42 is at the left hand end of travel along the shaft 36 and that the post '75 is at the left hand end of the rear slot 72', the device is ready for printing on the ticket 51. It is to be understood of course that the plate '71 is fixed on the upper side of the register 10 and does not travel with the frame 14.

A button 80 is then depressed as the initial character of the word to be written and upon its depression the corresponding key 83is caused to travel rearwardly by means of the rocking of that bell crank 82 to which it is secured and which crank the button 80 controls. That particular key 83 then is moved against the periphery of the cylinder 1'7 and drops into the notch 8'7 at. its own level to stop the turning of the cylinder which causes the plates between the shaft 20 and motor -ed on the ticket 51 without removing it from 23 to slip one past the other, thereby also bringing the wheel 42 to a completestop. The partic ular notch 87 thus engaged by that key 83 and the type bar 43 on the wheel 42 which corresponds to the character indicated on that button 80 which has been depressed are so positioned one in relation to the other, that the particular type bar carrying that character is then on the extreme under side of the wheel 42. While the key 80 is held down, the bar 56 is depressed to push the wheel 42 downwardly, which action carries that type bar 43 between the lips of the ribbon guide 49 and causes it to make an impression through the ribbon thereunder onto the paper 51. Both the button and the bar 56 are then released to allow the key 83 to be withdrawn from its engagement with the cylinder 1'7 and to allow the wheel 42 to be lifted upwardly from the guide As the wheel 42 travels upwardly under the pull of the spring 58, the cylinder 45 is revolved by means of the lever 59 as above described a distance sufiicient to move the wheel 42 to the right to give the proper spacing for the next succeeding character to be imprinted on the ticket 51.

Since there is one notch 87 only at each of the eight vertical levers of key 83, the one notch may be engaged by each of the six keys in the particular corresponding level. It is therefore necessary to properlyposition the type bars 43 about the wheel 42 so that they will be on the under side of the wheel 42 at the time the particular} button 80 indicating that the key has been pushed and the cylinder 17 stopped. In other words the characters can not be consecutively positioned around the wheel 42 but must be spaced in accordance with the controlling key and the particular notch engaged by that key in the cylinder 17.

Immediately a line has been printed across the ticket 51, the post 75 comes to the end of the particular slot in the plate '71 and by reason of the pull of the tapes '70 urging the frame 14 forwardly, the post '75 will be pulled forwardly past the right hand end of the bar separating adjacent slots and will thus be pulled into contact with the end of the next bar ahead which thus arrests further forward travel of the frame. By pressing downwardly on the button 65, the cylinder 45 is free to be revolved so that the tape 68 may then immediately pull the arm 44 to the extreme left again. The wheel 42 is then in position on the next below line ready for further printing opera tions. By operating the button 88 the cylinder 17 is stopped to bring the wheel 42 to the blank or spacing position whereby depression of the bar 56 will depress the wheel 42 without causing an imprint on the ticket 51 and release of the bar 56 will permit the wheel to return and be moved a space to the right as above described. Successive depressions and releases of the bar 56 while the button 88 is held down will cause the wheel 42 to be moved as far to the right as may be desired.

When it is desired to read what has been print- 146 the register, the wheel 42'may be shifted to the extreme right by successive operations of the bar 56 as just indicated to bring the wheel 42 and its arm 44 over whereby post '75 is then in line with the longitudinal opening across the ends of the slots '72. The entire frame may then be pushed rearwardly so as to uncover the ticket 51. The frame of course has to be held back against the pull of the tapes 70 and will therefore return to its forward position upon release. The 156 lateral position of the wheel 42 across the ticket is known at all times by means of a pointer 90 which is supported from the -forward end of the arm 44 and extends through a slot 91 in the forward end of the frame 14. Likewise the particular line up and down the sales ticket 51 on which it is desired to print, can be located by registering the pointer 92 with the number of the line as indicated on the guide 11, Fig. 2. The pointer 92 is attached to the side of the frame 14 .and moves along therewith.

It is to be understood that the drawings herein to which the foregoing description is applied are diagrammatic and it is obvious that structural changes may be made in the form thus shown and described without departing from the spirit of the invention and I therefore do not desire to be limited to this precise form beyond the limitations imposed by the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a printing device, a rotatable wheel, imprinting characters spaced around the wheel, a plurality of character indicating buttons forming a keyboard, a'key operably associated with each of the buttons, a revoluble cylinder, stops on the cylinder less in number than that of the keys, said keys being directed toward said cylinder and selectively movable into the paths of said stops upon travel of respective buttons, and

means for revolving said wheel and said cylinder in definite relation one with the other, and said wheel being shiftable in respect to said, cylinder to occupy laterally spaced printing positions.

2. In a printing device, a frame reciprocable fore and aft, a revoluble wheel mounted within the frame to be reciprocable up and down andshiftable laterally thereacross, imprinting char! acters spaced around the wheel, means for shifting the wheel to the right upon vertical reciprocation of the wheel, spring means normally carrying the frame to a forward position, a lineguide plate fixed relative tomovement of the frame, an arm shifting with said wheel and a post carried by the arm engaging with said guide plate.

3. In a printing device, a frame reciprocable fore and aft, a revoluble wheel mounted within the frame to be reciprocable up and down and shiftable laterally thereacross, imprinting characters spaced around the wheel, means for shifting the wheel to the right upon vertical reciprocation of the wheel, spring means normally carrying the frame to a forward position, a line guide plate fixed relative to movement of the frame, an arm shifting with said wheel and a post carried by the arm engaging with said guide plate, a character button corresponding to each of the characters on said wheel, means for revolving said wheel, andmeans between said buttons and said wheel selectively stopping the travel of the wheel in accordance with the operation of the particular buttons.

4. In a printing machine, a key board comprising individual buttons with characters indicated thereon, a wheel having printing characters on its rim corresponding to the characters wheel along its axis of rotation to obtain printing sequence of said printing characters as the wheel is subsequently stopped and brought into printing positions revolving stops, one for each printing character, and a key for each character shifted toward its stop by a respective button.

5. In a printing machine, a key board comprising individual buttons with characters indicated thereon, a wheel having printing characters on its rim corresponding to the characters indicated by said buttons, a printing surface normally spaced from the rim of the wheel, means normally maintaining said wheel in revolving motion, means operated by said buttons to stop said wheel to have selected printing characters directed toward said surface, and means for bringing the rim of the wheel into printing position on said surface, said button operated means comprising a member revolved in timed sequence with said wheel, stops on the member corresponding to one or more of said characters, and a key for each character directed toward said member and adapted to be shifted theretoward by the respective button, said keys being aligned in separate groups spaced circumferentially about said member, and-said stops being spaced along the member to have one stop at each level of the keys in the various groups.

6. In combination with a platen, a printing machine comprising a frame guided fore and aft over the platen, a spring tension mechanism tending to carry the frame forward, a printing member carried by the frame movable laterally of the frame, a guide plate fixed relative to said platen having a plurality of horizontal guides opening into a common longitudinal guide and a post laterally movable with said printing member extending into the guides of said plate.

7. In combination with a platen, a printing machine comprising a frame guided fore and aft overthe platen, a spring tension mechanism tending to carry the frame forward, a printing member carried by the frame movable laterally of the frame, a guide plate fixed relative to said platen having a plurality of horizontal guides opening into a common longitudinal guide and a post laterally movable with said printing member extending into the guides of said plate, the horizontal guides having their ends communicating with said longitudinal guide terminating therewith in stepped arrangement whereby upon traversing one horizontal guide and entering said longitudinal guide, said post will be pulled forwardly under the influence of said spring tension device to drop against the projecting end of the next horizontal guide, whereby said frame may automatically advance forwardly over the platen line by line as each preceding line is laterally traversed by said printing member.

8. In a printing machine, a revoluble wheel with printing dies spaced therearound, a plurality of buttons corresponding to said dies, a revoluble cylinder, means simultaneously revolving said wheel and said cylinder, a plurality of shiftable keys respectively corresponding to said buttons and adapted to be actuated thereby, said keys being arranged in a plurality of spaced apart.

with printing dies spaced therearound, a plurality of buttons corresponding to. said dies, 2. revoluble cylinder, means simultaneously revolving said wheel and said cylinder, a plurality of shiftablev keys respectively corresponding to said buttons and adapted to be actuated thereby, said keys being arranged in a plurality of spaced apart banks and directed toward the cylinder, and stops on the cylinder arranged to have one stop at each level of the keys in the banks to engage a key when its button is depressed and whereby the stop at any one level will revolve past each key at that level in all of said banks when the button of that key is not depressed, said stops being circumferentially spaced apart an equal distance.

10. Ina printing machine, a revoluble wheel with printing dies spaced therearound, a plurality of buttons corresponding to said dies, a revoluble cylinder, means simultaneously revolving said wheel and said cylinder, a plurality of shiftable keys respectively corresponding to said buttons and adapted to be actuated thereby, said keys being arranged in a plurality of spaced apart banks and directed toward the cylinder, and stops on the cylinder arranged to have one stop at each level of the keys in the banks to engage a key when its button is depressed and whereby the stop ;at any one level will revolve past each key at that level in all of said banks when the button of that key is not depressed, said banks being grouped about a portion only of the said cylinder.

11. In a printing machine, a revoluble wheel with printing dies spaced therearound,.a plurality of buttons corresponding to said dies, a

revoluble cylinder, means simultaneously revolving said wheel and said cylinder, a plurality of shiitable keys respectively corresponding to said buttons and adapted to be actuated thereby, said keys being arranged in a plurality of spaced apart banks and directed toward the cylinder, and stops on the cylinder arranged to have one stop at each level of the keys in the banks to engage a key when its button is depressed and whereby the stop at any one level will revolve past each key at that level in all of said banks when the button of that key is not depressed, a bank board around a part of said cylinder on that side toward said buttons, and said keys being supported through said board on lines substantially radial of said cylinder.

12. For a printing machine, a line spacing plate having transverse guides spaced longitudinally apart, said guides opening into a longitudinal opening along' one side of the plate, and each of said guides being stepped off from bottom to top whereby the guide next below any one guide will extend slightly farther laterally at the open end than the guide immediately thereabove..

13. In a printing machine having a relatively fixed platen, a printing mechanism shiftable both laterally and longitudinally of the platen, and means automatically advancing said mechanism longitudinally line by line following a predetermined lateral movement comprising a line spacing plate having transverse guides therein terminatjng by ends in stepped arrangement and a post carried by said mechanism and received cnawrorin J. warm. 

